Medical, dental, pharmaceutical, veterinary or mortuary instruments and devices are routinely exposed to blood or other body fluids during medical procedures. Following such procedures, a thorough cleaning and microbial deactivation of the instrument is required before the instrument can be used in another procedure. Liquid sterilization systems are widely used to clean and to eliminate microbial viability on medical instruments and devices that cannot withstand the high temperatures produced in conventional steam sterilization systems. Liquid sterilization systems typically operate by exposing the medical instruments and devices to a liquid sterilant solution, such as peracetic acid or some other strong oxidant. In such liquid sterilization systems, the instruments and devices are placed within a sterilization chamber and the liquid sterilant solution is then circulated through the sterilization chamber.
The liquid sterilant solution is generated within the sterilization system by combining various chemical components. These chemical components are conventionally placed in a chemistry container for ease of manufacture, transportation and use. The chemistry container is multifunctional in its design. The chemistry container is designed to 1) provide basic storage and separation of the chemical components and 2) to interact with the sterilization system to aid in the delivery, mixing and dissolution of the chemical components.
One chemistry container design uses a thermally-molded, thin-walled vessel that is made from high impact polystyrene (HIPS). (See U.S. Pat. No. 5,037,623 to Schnieder et al.) Another chemistry container design includes an injection molded, polypropylene vessel with a removable base portion in a bottom thereof. (See U.S. Pat. No. 7,351,386 to Halstead et al.)
One of the problems with the aforementioned chemistry container designs is that operators cannot always easily or effectively prevent the use of an improper chemistry container in a liquid sterilization system.
Therefore, it is highly desirable to have a device that helps to prevent an improper chemistry container from being opened in a liquid sterilization system.